the university of auckland phd application

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Application for Students to Enrol in PhD Programme

All students who intend to enrol in a PhD should fill out this form. For international students, the purpose of this form is to ensure that you have the correct prerequisites to enter the PhD programme at the University of Auckland's Department of Mathematics. The minimum standards required are stated below:

Entrance Requirements

• University Masters degree with First Class Honours or Second Class Honours First Division - equivalent to that at a New Zealand university - and which must have contained a research component .
• Fluent spoken and written English (overall IELTS score of 6.5)

Note: Filling in this form completely and correctly will ensure a speedy response to your application.

Application Form

State your main postgraduate degree. Please list the following information:

Are you a current student at University of Auckland Yes No

If you hold any other postgraduate degree please state their titles:

Have you done a one-year thesis/dissertation? Yes No

Is English your first language? Yes No

Note: the course is conducted entirely in English, so being fluent in both spoken and written English is a prerequisite for entry.

Is your thesis available online?

Are you the author on any other peer reviewed publications?

What is your proposed area of study? (eg Topology)

Have you contacted any potential supervisors. If so, what arrangements have you made.

Briefly describe your proposed PhD thesis (if known):

Privacy Statement:

The details you provide in this application form will be used to evaluate your suitability to undertake PhD studies in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Auckland. They will be made available to those involved in this decision making process. You are at liberty to request a copy of any personal details we have on file for you in accordance with the Privacy Act (1993).

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Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is the University's highest qualification. The degree is undertaken by research only and leads to advanced academic and theoretical knowledge in a specialist area.

The PhD is suitable for students who want to pursue an academic or research career, or a senior position in the public or private sector. Doctoral studies present you with the opportunity to generate new ideas that can benefit business and society. You will make a significant original contribution to knowledge and understanding in your field of study and meet recognised international standards for your work.

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Applications received after the application date will be considered on a case-by-case basis otherwise the application will be held over for the subsequent start date.

• Fees shown are based on a full-time workload for the points indicated next to the fee. The exact fee charged will depend on which courses you select at the time of enrolment.
• Fees are subject to change year to year. If you are planning for study beyond the current year, fees may vary from those stated.
• There may also be other fees and charges you need to pay .
• International students' tuition fees reflect the full cost of tuition. Domestic students' tuition fees are less due to a proportion of the tuition fees being funded by the New Zealand Government.

Indicative 2024 international fees

Scholarships

• Entry requirements
• Application process
• What you study
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Minimum entry requirements

Must normally have completed the following in a discipline appropriate to the proposed research:

• Master’s degree with honours OR
• Bachelor’s degree with honours (equivalent to 4 years of study)

The degree must normally have been gained at the standard of first class or second class (first division) honours from this University or a recognised equivalent. The degree should include advanced learning in research, execution of a research project and a written report on the research.

International student entry requirements

English language requirements

Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences

• IELTS (Academic) 6.5 overall with 6.5 in Writing and no band less than 6.0

All other study areas

• IELTS (Academic) 6.5 overall with 7.0 in Writing and no band less than 6.0

Other requirements

Acceptance is subject to the availability of staff for supervision, prior research preparation and appropriate facilities.

How to apply for the Doctor of Philosophy

• Apply online and submit all required documents at least three months prior to the intended start date
• The Graduate Research School will assess your eligibility and forward to the relevant faculty to confirm possible research areas and supervisors
• Where the faculty confirms the availability of resources, including supervision, they will request for you to complete the formal research proposal (PGR2). Your PGR2 Research Proposal, including supervisory signatures, must be submitted to your Faculty Postgraduate Office a minimum of four weeks prior to your intended start date. If you are planning to start on 1 February, submit your signed PGR2 by 15 December.
• Once the research proposal is confirmed by the faculty, it will be sent to the Graduate Research School for approval and to issue an Offer of Place

For general enquiries for the Doctor of Philosophy programme please contact [email protected] .

Preparing a PhD research proposal

Prospective PhD applicants are required to prepare a formal research proposal, specifying the field of research and a general research question you wish to investigate.

Admission to a doctoral programme

Guidelines for the Faculty of Business, Economics and Law

Guidelines for the Faculty of Culture and Society

Information we need to assess your application

We require the following information:

• Faculty and/or field you wish to conduct your study in
• Academic transcripts
• Grading scale for postgraduate qualification
• Degree certificates (undergraduate and postgraduate)
• Title of the thesis/dissertation/research project
• 1-2 page document (maximum) outlining your proposed research project
• Curriculum vitae (CV)
• If English is not your first language you need to provide evidence of English language proficiency – IELTS (Academic) test results or recognised equivalent. If your postgraduate study was completed in English within three years, this may be waived

Once the required information is received, we will forward your enquiry to the relevant faculty who will communicate to you about the outcome of your application, possible research areas and supervisors.

Requirements for specific subjects

Art & design.

We require a portfolio (between 10-15 annotated images as a pdf or PowerPoint file or a URL for a website)

Provide evidence of completing the courses Microeconomics, Macroeconomics and Econometrics at postgraduate level. Course syllabus or similar is required for assessment of comparability of those courses to those taken in New Zealand

Doctoral students will attain the knowledge, values and attributes to make significant contributions to their professional communities and societies through further high-quality research, and developments.

You put together a proposal that critically reviews work done in your area of research. This requires a suitable research methodology and a timeframe for completion of the degree. You are expected to publish one or more papers for a reputed international conference in your chosen area of research.

Once you have completed your research proposal, you refine your design, collect data and conduct your research as appropriate. Data is collected and analysed and the results are published at international conferences. A journal publication is also encouraged at this point.

The first step in the final stage of the PhD is finalising the data collection and analysis. You then write your PhD thesis and submit it to the supervisor for feedback. It could take two or three drafts before the thesis is ready for submission and examination.

Skills you will develop as part of the PhD

The outcomes for graduates of the Doctor of Philosophy are outlined in the Graduate Profile below.

Graduate Profile

It is expected that graduates with a Doctor of Philosophy will have gained the necessary skills and qualifications to follow an academic or research career. Alternatively, your research topic may lead you to a position of expertise in your chosen field. The opportunities to apply the knowledge and skills you gain through a PhD will be extensive, both in industry and academia.

The information on this page was correct at time of publication. For a comprehensive overview of AUT qualifications, please refer to the Academic Calendar .

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100 Different PhD Subjects

The University of Auckland PhD is a globally recognised postgraduate research degree, available in over 100 different subjects.

Doctoral Scholarships

Find information about the doctoral scholarships offered by the University of Auckland.

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Learn about the exciting research taking place across the University.

Doctoral Applications

If you are applying for a PhD, here’s our step-by-step guide for doctoral applications, admission and enrolment.

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Meet doctoral candidates and graduates from across the University.

Three Minute Thesis Presentations

The annual 3 Minute Thesis (3MT) competition provides a chance for doctoral candidates to share their research with a broad audience. It is also a lot of fun for the audience.

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Postgraduate applications

If you are planning to start postgraduate study, here’s our step-by-step guide for applications, admission and enrolment. If you are applying for doctoral study, see Doctoral applications .

Step 1. Choose your programme

• View your Postgraduate study options
• View the  Postgraduate entry requirements
• Check the  Postgraduate application closing dates

Step 2. Apply for admission

Before you apply you will need,.

• information on your prior study

You may need: 

• your intended course selection (programme dependent). If you need assistance, visit Student Hubs
• Research by faculty
• Contact a postgraduate adviser

Is this your first time applying with us?

• Visit Apply now
• Select 'Start your Application for Admission'
• Click ‘Sign up for a new account’ below the Password entry field.
• A confirmation message will ask you to confirm sign up for a new account. Select ‘Confirm’.
• The 'Register for a new account' page will appear. Enter your email address, name and a password and click ‘Register’ (After accepting the IT Acceptable Use Policy and Disclaimer).
• In the next page provide your contact details, date of birth, citizenship, ethnicity. Also indicate if you have a disability so we can better meet your needs.
• ‘Academic History’: Enter all qualifications you completed or are currently completing.
• ‘Programme Selection’: Select your intended programme.
• Ensure you have read the Declaration section. Click ‘I Agree’ and ‘Submit application.’

If you have applied, studied or worked with us before

• Select 'Start your Application for Admission' and Login
• Use either your ID number or the email address used when you applied, and your password.
• To reset your password, visit Change or reset your password
• View/Update your ‘Personal summary’
• You can apply for a maximum of six programmes. Special Admission applicants can only have two active applications.
• Ensure you have read the Declaration section. Click, ‘I Agree’ and ‘Submit application.’

What to expect after you apply

Within two working days, you will receive an acknowledgement email with,

• a list of supporting documents we require.
• a Student ID number for logging into your application. To sign in, please visit Continue your application

Step 3. Submit your supporting documents

Documents we require from you can be identified in your acknowledgement email or in the 'Things you need to do' list in your application. To access your application, please visit Continue your application .

For more information around application documents, visit AskAuckland - documents .

Step 4. Track your application progress

If you applied for the next semester intake, an admission decision will be made within four weeks from receipt of the required documents. Delays may occur for future semester intakes and during peak admission periods (September to January and May to July).

Some documents may take longer to process than others.

Offer of place notification can vary depending on the assessment of programme-specific requirements such as a portfolio, audition and/or interview.

To see the status of your documents submitted, you can access the 'Things you need to do' list in your application. To access your application, please see Continue your application .

Step 5. View your application decision

When a decision is made, the status will show on the 'Your applications' section of your application portal. To access your application, please see Continue your application .

Offer of place

You can accept or decline an offer of place in a programme in your application portal. When you accept an offer of place, you are admitted to your programme. We will acknowledge your acceptance by email, with information on how to enrol.

To access your application portal, please visit Continue your application .

If you have a conditional offer of place, you will need to meet all the conditions before you can enrol.

Step 6. Enrol in your courses

You can now enrol into courses for your programme. For help choosing your courses and enrolling, visit Postgraduate enrolment .

Paying your fees

The fees you pay are based on the courses you enrol in. For information about fees and how to pay, visit Tuition fees .

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Regulations - Doctor of Philosophy

Statute for the degree of doctor of philosophy – phd.

(i) “Candidate/s” refers to candidate/s for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

(ii) “Candidature” refers to a person’s status as a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

(iii) “Doctoral year” refers to each block of 12 months from the initial date of programme enrolment.

(iv) Full-time and part-time enrolment are defined in the doctoral full-time and part-time enrolment policy and procedures.

General Requirements

1 A candidate for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is required to undertake an original and coherent research project and to present the outcome of that research project for examination as a thesis.

2 The research project, which may include scholarly creative practice, must involve enquiry that is experimental and/or critical in nature and be driven by an intellectual hypothesis, position, problem or question(s) capable of being rigorously explored and of making an original and significant contribution to knowledge and/or understanding in the relevant field(s) of study.

3 The research project must be conducted under supervision and over the period of enrolment in the PhD programme, and must be conducted in accordance with the Research Code of Conduct Policy.

4 The thesis requirement at Regulation 1 must be satisfied by a cohesive written document, which shall not normally exceed 100,000 words. Scholarly creative work (written or otherwise) that forms an integrated whole with the written document may be submitted for examination as part of the thesis requirement.

5 The thesis must be undertaken and completed in accordance with the Doctoral Thesis Policy and Procedures and, where scholarly creative work is (to be) presented for examination as part of the thesis requirement, with the PhD – Including Scholarly Creative Work Policy and Procedures.

6 In order for the PhD degree to be awarded, the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate[s]) must be:

a satisfied that the requirements of Regulations 1-5 and Regulation 47 have been met

b satisfied that, subject to Regulation 43, the candidate has performed at doctoral level in an oral examination, held in accordance with this Statute on the thesis, the subject of the thesis and the field(s) to which the subject belongs

c satisfied, by the examination process prescribed by this Statute, that the thesis:

(i) makes an original and significant contribution to knowledge or understanding in its field(s)

(ii) meets internationally recognised standards for such work

(iii) demonstrates knowledge of the literature relevant to the subject and the field(s) to which the subject belongs, and demonstrates the ability to exercise critical and analytical judgement of that literature

(iv) is satisfactory in its methodology, in the quality and coherence of its expression, and in its scholarly presentation and format.

7 The thesis must be submitted within a maximum of 48 months of full-time equivalent enrolment from the initial date of enrolment in the PhD programme, unless a later submission date is permitted by the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate) in accordance with the Doctoral Extension of Enrolment Policy and Procedures. For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions pertaining to the submission of the “thesis” in this regulation and in the remainder of this statute apply to all work (to be) presented for examination in fulfilment of the thesis requirement at Regulation 1.

8 The thesis must not be submitted in less than 36 months of full-time equivalent enrolment from the initial date of enrolment in the PhD programme, unless permission is granted by the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate).

9 Permission for submission of the thesis must not be granted where a candidate has been enrolled for less than 24 months full-time equivalent from the initial date of enrolment in the PhD programme.

10 Part-time enrolment may be permitted, subject to the Doctoral Full-time and Part-time Enrolment Policy and Procedures.

11 A candidate may be permitted to suspend their enrolment subject to the Doctoral Suspension of Enrolment Policy and Procedures.

12 Unless permitted under the PhD – Masters Thesis Transfer Policy and Procedures, the initial date of enrolment in the PhD programme may not be backdated except in exceptional circumstances as approved by the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate) and up to a maximum of six months.

13 To be admitted to the PhD programme, applicants must satisfy the University’s Admission regulations and are required to have:

a in their most recent attempt at a relevant qualification:

(i) completed the requirements for a Bachelors Honours or Masters degree or postgraduate diploma in a relevant subject area with at least a B+ average at the University of Auckland, or, where relevant to the intended subject of the PhD, the Degree of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery at the University of Auckland; in all cases relevance is determined by the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate)

(ii) satisfied the requirements of the PhD – Masters Thesis Transfer Policy and Procedures

(iii) completed the requirements for a qualification approved by the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate) as relevant, with regard to subject area, and as equivalent to a Bachelors Honours or Masters degree with at least a B+ average at the University of Auckland

b satisfied the requirements of the Doctoral Candidate Research Capacity Policy and Procedures

c satisfied the University of Auckland postgraduate English language requirements and any further requirements for evidence of English language proficiency set by the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate)

d where creative work is to be presented for examination as part of the thesis requirement, have satisfied the eligibility and research project approval requirements of the PhD – Including Scholarly Creative Work Policy and Procedures

e have a research project approved by the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate) as consistent with the requirements of Regulation 2 and capable of satisfying the requirements for the award of the PhD degree

f have the approval of the Head(s) of the relevant academic unit(s) or their nominee(s) for the purposes of doctoral matters (“the Academic Head(s)”) with regard to the availability of appropriate supervision and the availability of the research resources deemed necessary by the Academic Head(s).

14 In exceptional circumstances, the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate) may, subject to the Doctoral Exceptional Circumstance Entry Policy and Procedures, admit to the PhD programme an applicant whose qualifications do not meet the requirements of Regulation 13a.

15 An applicant may be considered for transfer from an existing doctoral enrolment subject to the Doctoral Transfer Policy and Procedures.

16 An applicant may be considered for off-campus enrolment subject to the Doctoral Off-campus Research Policy and Procedures.

17 The final decision on admission to the PhD programme shall be made by the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate).

18 Admission to the PhD programme may be rescinded prior to enrolment in the programme where information that was not available to the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate) at the time the admission decision was made, and which would have resulted in a different decision being made, becomes available, or where, due to circumstances unforeseeable at the time of the decision, supervision and/or necessary resources will no longer be available for the enrolment.

19 Admission to the PhD programme is valid for up to six months (or a maximum of 12 months in exceptional circumstances as approved by the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate)) from the date of notification of admission to the programme. Where enrolment in the programme does not occur within that time, re-application for admission to the programme is required.

20 Concurrent enrolment in another programme at the University of Auckland or at another institution is not permitted except as approved by the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate) in exceptional circumstances.

21 Persons who are permitted by the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate) to enrol in a joint or dual doctoral degree must satisfy all the requirements of this Statute in order to have the PhD degree awarded, unless an individual requirement is varied under Regulation 53.

Supervision

22 The Academic Head(s) is (are) responsible for the provision of supervision for the duration of the candidate’s enrolment.

23 The Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate) will appoint at least two supervisors for each candidate in accordance with the Doctoral Supervision Policy and Procedures.

24 Changes in supervision during candidature are subject to the Doctoral Supervision Policy and Procedures and the approval of the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate), with whom the final decision as to the appointment of supervisors rests.

Enrolment and Candidature

25 Except for any period(s) of suspension approved under Regulation 11, candidates are required to be enrolled continuously from the initial date of enrolment in the PhD programme until the date of thesis submission under Regulations 7–9.

26 Candidature for the PhD degree commences upon enrolment in the PhD programme and continues, regardless of any period(s) of suspension approved under Regulation 11, until the date on which any one of the following occurs:

a notification from the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate) that all requirements for the award of the degree at Regulation 6 have been met

b notification from the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate) that the final decision under Regulation 46 is that the degree not be awarded

c candidature expires under Regulation 28

d a candidate withdraws from the programme under Regulation 48

e candidature is terminated by the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate) pursuant to Regulation 49.

27 Candidature is provisional until confirmed, and is subject to the Doctoral Confirmation of Candidature Policy and Procedures, the Doctoral Continuation of Confirmed Candidature Policy and Procedures, and the Doctoral Candidature Intervention Policy and Procedures.

28 a Candidature expires when the thesis is not submitted for examination by the date required under Regulation 7.

b Candidature expires when the thesis is not submitted by the date specified by the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate) pursuant to Regulation 45.

29 Where candidature has expired under Regulation 28, it may be reinstated only as the outcome of a successful application to the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate) for a (retrospective) extension of enrolment, or by successful appeal under Regulation 54 of a decision by the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate) to decline an extension of enrolment (retrospective or otherwise).

30 Enrolment in the PhD programme is not possible where candidature remains expired under Regulation 28 or where a candidate withdraws from the programme under Regulation 48.

31 Termination of candidature under Regulation 49 is also termination of enrolment in the PhD programme for enrolled candidates.

32 Candidates who are required, pursuant to Regulation 45, to revise and resubmit their thesis for examination by the date specified by the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate) are required to be enrolled for the duration of the period of revision of the thesis. The maximum duration of enrolment for revision and resubmission of a thesis pursuant to Regulation 45 is 12 months full-time equivalent.

33 Candidates who wish to be absent from the University in pursuit of their research for more than one month during enrolment are subject to the Doctoral Off-campus Research Policy and Procedures.

34 Candidates are subject to the Research Code of Conduct Policy and all University statutes, regulations, rules, policies and procedures relating to student conduct and obligations (academic or otherwise) for the duration of candidature.

35 Candidates may change the title of their thesis at any point prior to submission of the thesis for examination, subject to the approval of the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate).

36 All fees required by and pursuant to the Fees Statute and the PhD Domestic Tuition Fees Policy must be paid for the duration of enrolment in the PhD programme.

37 Tuition fees are not payable for any period during which enrolment has been suspended under Regulation 11.

38 a A candidate who withdraws from the PhD programme, or who has their candidature terminated, will receive a refund of one-twelfth of the tuition fee paid for the current doctoral year per each complete month of the period of withdrawal from the programme or termination of candidature and the end of the current doctoral year.

b A candidate who submits a thesis will receive a refund of one-twelfth of the tuition fee paid for the current doctoral year per each complete month of the period between the date of submission of the thesis and the end of the current doctoral year, provided the candidate has been enrolled for at least 36 months’ full-time equivalent.

39 Graduation is not permitted until all outstanding monies owing to the University have been paid.

40 The thesis must be submitted in accordance with the Doctoral Thesis Submission Pre-Examination Procedures.

Examination

41 For each candidate, the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate) will appoint two examiners, at least one of whom must be based outside New Zealand, in accordance with the Doctoral Appointment of Examiners Policy and Procedures.

42 The examination for the PhD degree must be conducted in accordance with the Doctoral Examination Procedures and/or, where the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate) regards it as warranted, with the Doctoral Examination Extraordinary Circumstances and Posthumous Award Procedures. Where scholarly creative work is submitted as part of the thesis requirement, the examination is also subject to the PhD – Including Scholarly Creative Work Policy and Procedures.

43 Except where a candidate is exempted pursuant to the Doctoral Examination Extraordinary Circumstances and Posthumous Award Procedures, the PhD degree cannot be awarded where an oral examination has not taken place.

44 Where a candidate advances to oral examination, the oral examination is to proceed in accordance with the Doctoral Examination Procedures and the Doctoral Oral Examination Procedures.

45 The Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate) will consider all examination reports and recommendations made pursuant to the Doctoral Examination Procedures and determine the outcome of the examination.

Final Decision

46 The final decision as to the award of the PhD degree will be made by the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate[s]), who may also be the decision-maker at Regulation 45.

47 The final examined and approved thesis must be submitted in accordance with the Doctoral Thesis Submission Post-Examination Procedures in order for the requirements of the PhD degree to be met.

Withdrawal from Programme

48 A candidate may withdraw from the PhD programme at any time by notifying the University in writing. Retraction of the programme withdrawal is not permitted.

Termination of Candidature

49 The Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate) may terminate the candidature of any enrolled or non-enrolled candidate on any one or more of the following grounds:

a failure to meet the requirements for confirmation of candidature pursuant to Regulation 27

b failure to meet the requirements for continuation of confirmed candidature pursuant to Regulation 27

c failure to satisfy conditions imposed on candidature pursuant to Regulation 27

d failure to comply with candidature reporting requirements pursuant to Regulation 27

e failure to complete or satisfactorily complete revisions to an examined thesis by the date required by the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate)

f failure to comply with the Doctoral Thesis Submission Post-Examination Procedures

g failure to make payment of any tuition fees related to enrolment in the PhD by the due date.

Note: For the avoidance of doubt, termination of candidature pursuant to this Regulation 49 is permanent unless successfully appealed in accordance with Regulation 54(b).

50 Before the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate) makes a decision as to termination of candidature pursuant to Regulation 49, the candidate will be given notice of termination proceedings and allowed 14 calendar days to make a submission for the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate) to take into account in making that decision. This process is subject to the Doctoral Termination Proceedings Policy.

51 Cancellation or prohibition of enrolment and/or candidature pursuant to any disciplinary statute of the University takes precedence over the provisions of this Statute.

52 a Where a candidate withdraws from the PhD programme, or has their candidature terminated, or fails to meet the requirements for the award of the degree, admission to a new PhD or other doctoral programme in the same subject at a later date will not normally be permitted.

b A person who withdraws from any relevant doctoral enrolment or has a relevant doctoral candidature terminated (or equivalent), or who fails to meet the requirements for the award of a relevant doctoral degree, will not normally be admitted to the PhD except in accordance with the doctoral transfer policy and procedures.

c Relevance and equivalence at Regulation 52b are determined by the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate).

53 In exceptional circumstances, the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate) may approve a variation to the policies, procedures and regulations for PhD candidature, except where variation of a national or government directive or requirement is involved.

54 a Candidates may appeal decisions made by the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate) pertaining to extension and suspension of enrolment subject to the Doctoral Candidature Appeal Procedures.

b A former candidate may appeal the decision made by the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate) to terminate candidature, or to decline an extension of enrolment, subject to the Doctoral Candidature Appeal Procedures.

55 Appeals as to extension and suspension of enrolment and termination of candidature will be determined in accordance with the Doctoral Candidature Appeal Procedures.

56 Candidates and former candidates may appeal the outcome of a PhD examination only on the grounds that the result was materially impacted by a procedural flaw in the examination process, and subject to the Doctoral Examination Appeal Procedures.

57 Appeals as to examination will be determined in accordance with the Doctoral Examination Appeal Procedures.

Dispute Resolution

58 Disputes are to be resolved according to the Resolution of Student Academic Complaints and Disputes Statute.

59 Any matter that has been, could have been or could be appealed under the provisions of Regulation 54 or 56 is precluded from consideration as a dispute under Regulation 58.

Further Provisions

60 a The PhD programme is subject to the Limited Entry Statute.

b Candidates are subject to:

(i) the Degrees and Diplomas Statute and the Conferment of Academic Qualifications and Academic Dress Statute

(ii) the provisions of the Enrolment and Programme regulations pertaining to members of the security intelligence service, rescindment and surrender of qualifications and the Provost’s Special Powers

(iii) the Examination Regulations, where coursework is prescribed pursuant to Regulation 27.

61 The doctoral policies and procedures cited in this Statute may be reviewed and amended from time-to-time.

62 PhD candidates are subject to any additional doctoral policies and procedures devised in support of this Statute, and amended from time-to-time.

63 This Statute may itself be reviewed and amended from time-to-time.

64 This Statute came into force on 1 October 2020.

65 For candidates initially enrolled under a previous statute, the Board of Graduate Studies (or delegate) may agree to vary the application of the provisions of this Statute to ensure consistency with the provisions of the statute under which the candidate was enrolled, where it is satisfied that the candidate would otherwise be at a disadvantage.

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Doctor of Philosophy in Molecular Medicine

This course is available

Level of Study

Doctoral Degree

Next start date

Expected Jul 2024

University of Auckland

The PhD is a globally recognised postgraduate research degree and the highest level of degree you can achieve. PhD students are critical, curious, creative thinkers who undertake original research over at least 3 years.

This course is also offered at overseas locations.

A greater, more comprehensive understanding of human biology and disease is the primary goal of biomedical research. The search is for finer and finer detail, the pursuit of complete knowledge of life and with it, the cure of human diseases. Throughout biological evolution, a structural feature of living cells that has been highly conserved across generations is DNA. This encodes genetic information essential to the maintenance of living processes. Understanding DNA and the genetic flow of information therefore constitutes an important route to advances in current medical research.

The Department of Molecular Medicine and Pathology reflects this modern emphasis on molecular biology research. Moreover, we not only look at the molecular structure of life but we translate these molecules, these genes, to the clinic and the improved understanding, diagnosis and treatment of human disease.

Programme structure

The University of Auckland PhD is a three-to-four year full-time advanced research degree.

On possible to the PhD programme, you will be enrolled provisionally. By the end of your first year, you must meet a number of goals to be confirmed into the PhD programme, including developing a full thesis proposal. After confirmation, you will continue to work on your research before submitting your thesis for examination after three years and within four years of your start date. The examination process includes an oral exam.

As part of your PhD study, you can take part in our doctoral skills programme, designed to help you achieve success in your research and develop skills for your future. We have a dedicated postgraduate careers advisor, and our library service includes specialist subject librarians to help you in your research. The central School of Graduate Studies provides dedicated support and advice for the doctoral community.

Where could this programme take you?

Our PhD graduates are successful in a wide range of fields and careers, as well as the traditional academic research career path. The PhD gives you extensive specialist and transferable skills, which are sought after in many sectors, including industry and government, and can even help you to develop entrepreneurship skills to run your own startup.

Entry criteria

Masters-level qualification or the equivalent of a bachelors degree with honours

Evidence of significant research, usually undertaken as part of prior study

English language requirements

• IELTS (Academic) - Overall score of 6.5 and no bands below 6.0
• Internet-based TOEFL (iBT) - Overall score of 90 and a writing score of 21
• Paper-based TOEFL - Overall score of 68 and a writing score of 21
• C1 Advanced (previously - Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE)) - Overall score of 176 and no bands below 169
• C2 Proficiency (previously - Cambridge English Proficiency (CPE)) - Overall score of 176 and no bands below 169
• University of Auckland Foundation Certificate in English for Academic Purposes (FCertEAP) - Grade of B-
• University of Auckland English Pathway for Postgraduate Studies (EPPS) - Grade of B-
• Pearson Test of English (PTE) Academic - Overall score of 58 and no PTE Communicative score below 50
• Michigan English Language Assessment Battery (MELAB) - 85
• Trinity College London Integrated Skills in English (ISE) - ISE III with a pass in all 4 components
• LanguageCert - International ESOL - C1 Expert (LRWS) with a high pass overall and no less than a pass in each skill OR C2 Mastery with a pass overall and no less than a pass in each skill
• AEMG English for Academic Purposes Direct Entry Program (AEAP DEP) Final Exam - Overall score of 70% with no section below 65%
• English New Zealand Accredited Pathway Assessment - Assessment Level 3 overall and no skill below Level 2

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March 27, 2024

Building the first highway segment in the U.S. that can charge electric vehicles big and small as they drive

Purdue University engineers John Haddock (left), Nadia Gkritza, Dionysios Aliprantis and Steve Pekarek stand in the lab where they are testing technology they designed to enable all electric vehicle classes to receive power from the road. (Purdue University photo/Vincent Walter)

Construction to begin on test bed in Indiana to develop wireless charging for electric vehicles traveling at highway speeds

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — At the “Crossroads of America,” Purdue University engineers and the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) are working to make it possible for electric vehicles ranging from tractor-trailers to passenger cars to wirelessly charge while driving on highways.

Construction begins as soon as April 1 on a quarter-mile test bed on U.S. Highway 231/U.S. Highway 52 in West Lafayette that the team will use for testing how well a patent-pending system designed by Purdue engineers can provide power to a heavy-duty electric truck traveling at highway speeds.

“Thanks once again to some engineers and pioneers from Purdue, we’re developing the world’s first highway test bed for wireless charging,” said Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb to attendees of COP27 , a United Nations environmental conference that took place in Egypt in 2022. “Please remember that one. Yes, we will be testing whether concrete can charge passing trucks — and don’t bet against a Purdue Boilermaker.”

The electric truck, provided by Indiana-based company Cummins Inc., will drive over the test bed as part of a pilot program tentatively planned to start next year. The hope is to electrify a section of an Indiana interstate in the next four to five years. 

A few other states and countries have also begun testing roads that wirelessly charge EVs. But making this possible for highways — and heavy-duty trucks in particular — is a unique challenge. Because vehicles travel so much faster on highways than city roads, they need to be charged at higher power levels.

The Purdue-designed wireless charging system is intended to work at power levels much higher than what has been demonstrated in the U.S. so far. By accommodating the higher power needs for heavy-duty vehicles, the design is also able to support the lower power needs of other vehicle classes.

Why design electrified highways for trucks first?

An electrified highway in Indiana would serve much of the nation’s traffic. Eighty percent of the U.S. can be reached within a day’s drive from the state’s pass-through highways. 

Building electrified highways with heavy-duty trucks in mind would maximize greenhouse gas reductions and the economic feasibility of developing infrastructure for EVs.

Heavy-duty trucks are one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions for the U.S. transportation sector because they make up a large portion of interstate traffic. Compared to passenger cars, these trucks also need a lot more fuel so that they can constantly transport everything from the packages we order to groceries.

“The so-called ‘middle mile’ of the supply chain, which refers to all the travel heavy-duty trucks have to do to carry goods from one major location to another, is the most challenging part of the transportation sector to decarbonize,” said Nadia Gkritza , a Purdue professor of civil engineering and agricultural and biological engineering .

But if electric heavy-duty trucks could charge or maintain their state-of-charge using highways, their batteries could be smaller in size and they could carry more cargo, significantly reducing the costs of using EVs for freight transportation. Since trucking contributes the most to U.S. gross domestic product compared to other modes of freight transportation, lowering costs for heavy-duty electric trucks could help attract more investment into electrifying highways that all vehicle classes would share.

“We’re developing a system that has the power to charge semitractor-trailers as they move 65 miles per hour down the road,” John Haddock , a professor in Purdue’s Lyles School of Civil Engineering, told U.S. News & World Report .

Highways that charge EVs like a smartphone

The technology Purdue is developing would enable highway pavement to provide power to EVs similarly to how newer smartphones use magnetic fields to wirelessly charge when placed on a pad.

“If you have a cellphone and you place it on a charger, there is what’s called magnetic fields that are coming up from the charger into that phone. We’re doing something similar. The only thing that’s different is the power levels are higher and you’re going out across a large distance from the roadway to the vehicle,” said Steve Pekarek , Purdue’s Edmund O. Schweitzer, III Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering , in an episode of “American Innovators,” a Made in America series by Consensus Digital Media . “This is a simple solution. There are complicated parts of it, and that we leave to the vehicle manufacturers.”

In the wireless charging system that Purdue researchers have designed, transmitter coils would be installed in specially dedicated lanes underneath normal concrete pavement and send power to receiver coils attached to the underside of a vehicle.

Other wireless EV charging efforts are also using transmitter and receiver coils, but they haven’t been designed for the higher power levels that heavy-duty trucks need. The Purdue-designed coils accommodate a wider power range — larger vehicles wouldn’t need multiple low-power receiver coils on the trailer to charge from the road, which has been proposed to meet the high-power demands. Instead, in the Purdue design, a single receiver coil assembly is placed under the tractor, greatly simplifying the overall system.

Purdue researchers have also designed the transmitter coils to work within concrete pavement, which makes up 20% of the U.S. interstate system . Other coil designs have only been developed for use in asphalt pavement. 

“The whole idea is if you can charge your car on the road while in motion, then you’re basically riding for free,” Aaron Brovont , a Purdue research assistant professor in Purdue’s Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, explained in a Scripps news segment .

The team has completed testing of how well 20-foot-long sections of concrete and asphalt could handle heavy loads with the transmitter coils embedded. The researchers imitated truck traffic by having a machine repeatedly drive a loaded one-half semi axle over the pavements.

Alongside the pavement mechanical tests, the team has also done lab tests verifying the electromagnetic performance of the bare transmitter coils and the receiver coils.

Laying the groundwork for highways that recharge EVs everywhere  

As reported by The New York Times , CNBC , Scripps , Popular Mechanics and other news outlets, the research has the potential to define what EV charging looks like on highways.

The team’s partnerships are not just in Indiana, but also throughout the country. In addition to its funding from INDOT through the Joint Transportation Research Program at Purdue, the project is affiliated with a fourth-generation National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center called Advancing Sustainability through Powered Infrastructure for Roadway Electrification (ASPIRE) , dedicated to progressing the field of electrified transportation in all its forms.

Most real-world deployments of wireless pavement charging in the U.S. are led by members of ASPIRE. Purdue is a founding member of ASPIRE and Gkritza is the campus director of ASPIRE’s Purdue location.

Headquartered at Utah State University, ASPIRE integrates academia, scientific research, and real-world tests and deployments across more than 400 members from 10 partner universities: Purdue, the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Texas at El Paso, the University of Auckland in New Zealand, Colorado State University, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Virginia Tech, Cornell University, and the University of Utah. These universities are joined by more than 60 industry, government and nonprofit members across all sections of the electric transportation ecosystem, as well as community partners and advisors.

ASPIRE’s members at Purdue and Cummins are also leading a project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to develop an EV charging and hydrogen fueling plan for medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks on the Midwest’s Interstate 80 corridor. The corridor serves Indiana, Illinois and Ohio. The plan will examine the use of the wireless power transfer technology that Gkritza and her team are testing in West Lafayette.

“We don’t envision 100% of the roads being electrified,” Gkritza said in an episode of “Resources Radio,” a podcast by Washington, D.C., research institution Resources for the Future . “But we see the potential for dynamic wireless power pavement technology as complementary to an expanding network of EV charging stations that we will see very soon here in the U.S. We feel it would be useful in areas where charging stations are scarce in underserved communities, even supporting transit routes where initial charging at the depots and terminal stations might not be enough and there might need to be some charging in between the routes.”

The researchers anticipate that it may be 20 to 30 years before EVs can receive the full power they need while driving at highway speeds. It is up to EV manufacturers to decide whether to incorporate receiver coils into their vehicles.

“The technical obstacles that we need to overcome are not insurmountable. Those can be overcome with proper design,” Dionysios Aliprantis , a Purdue electrical and computer engineering professor, told The New York Times .

The team hopes that the results of their experiments could help convince the industry that electrified highways could work.

“We are Purdue University, where the difficult is done today and the impossible takes a bit longer,” Haddock said. 

ASPIRE’s Purdue location is part of a new Purdue Engineering Initiative, Leading Energy-Transition Advances and Pathways to Sustainability (LEAPS) . The initiative’s mission is to spark and nurture innovations within Purdue to create scalable technologies for the energy transition, transform the nature of energy-focused learning, and accelerate the translation of these technologies through academic-industry synergies. 

The researchers have disclosed their innovation to the Purdue Innovates Office of Technology Commercialization , which has applied for a patent on the intellectual property. Industry partners interested in developing or commercializing the work should contact Matt Halladay, senior business development manager and licensing manager, physical sciences, at [email protected] about track codes 2022-ALIP-69682, 2024-PEKA-70401 and 2024-PEKA-70402.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research institution demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top four in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, including nearly 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the new Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, and Purdue Computes — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives . 

Writer/Media contact: Kayla Albert, 765-494-2432, [email protected]

Nadia Gkritza, [email protected]

John Haddock, [email protected]

Dionysios Aliprantis, [email protected]

Steve Pekarek, [email protected]

Aaron Brovont, [email protected]

Note to journalists: Photos and video of the researchers and their experiments , in addition to b-roll of Purdue University’s campus , are available via Google Drive.

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